ROS: Rate of Speech

[anupumh]

Hi,

How much effect does Rate of Speech has on pronunciation and intelligibility?

Does anybody who teaches english language incorporates techniques to reduce rate of speech to improve pronunciation and enhance intelligibility?

Who has higher ROS; British Speakers, American Speakers, Canadian Speakers or Australian Speakers?

Thanks

[tigerpaws]

I can only comment on American English speakers in the US. The rate of speech varies greatly from one area to another. I have lived in the northeast where people speak very rapidly. Sometimes they speak so fast that I have to ask them to slow down and repeat themselves. In the rocky mountain west, where I am from, most of us speak fairly slowly. My students love this, because I naturally speak slowly and enunciate carefully.